In Store/Monthly Sales Calculator
Building an interface that increased customer experience & revenue
Challenge:
As mobile technology changes so do prices of the wireless services used to power them. In result, most people don't know much about what it takes to purchase a phone. Some go into a retail store seeking advice from a professional. They seek assistance in making a decision on what device they should get, how much it costs, and what they are paying for monthly.
Not every wireless store is the same. They often times have the same branding, but the stores themselves are separate entities known as indirect retailers. In fact, most wireless retail stores are indirect retailers. Each indirect location has its own sales goals and competes against other retailers even if they provide services from the same wireless provider.
1. Most quotes given to customers are: often vague, hand written on sticky notes; scratch pieces of paper; or printable templates, which all require the use of a calculator. This can take large amounts of time, require lots of explanation, and often do not include sales tax. Which means most times, quotes are inaccurate. If a customer wants to see multiple options then the process begins again, taking time away from the customer and leaving them confused and frustrated.
2. Wireless phone plans change quite frequently and device prices can vary from store to store.
3. Customers don't always make decisions in store and sometimes need to speak to the account owner or significant other. However if they try to do so with the sticky note quote, they have a hard time explaining what the numbers represent and often don't come back.
4. Most wireless sales reps are paid in commission and have sales goals they must reach, usually by up selling or selling additional devices/services. Which is hard to do when most of the sales process is explaining monthly plans and in store costs, and that leads to sales reps pressuring consumers to buy so the rep can pad their paycheck or even keep their job.
5. Stores have fees that are sometimes difficult to justify. Wireless carriers have additional fees that must be explained during the sales process. Some reps forget to mention said fees which can lead to an irate customer at the end of the transaction or the end of the month when they get their bill.
6. Sales reps often made cold calls and solicit products or services trying to lure customers in store.
Overall going into a wireless retail store can be very time consuming, confusing, frustrating, and can be compared to purchasing a vehicle. This is not the experience one would expect when going into a wireless store seeking a professional to help them make a decision when purchasing a phone.
A "Quote"
Wireless Plans Change
Frustrated Customer Review
*Select images to enlarge
Research:
When I was working at Ensignal, which was an indirect retailer, I was a store manager and I had 3 brand new employees. I was tired of dealing with irate customers who would come back demanding refunds or credits. I had goals to meet and a refund or exchange would hurt my sales goals for my store. Additionally, word of mouth would begin to spread which would send customers to the other indirect retailer down the street. I realized this problem was happening because my employees had a learning curve, didn't have the tools to explain everything correctly, and customers didn't have any clear take-a-ways to review after their purchase. This was my inspiration for an idea. A calculator that would eliminate all the hassle of calculating by hand, easy to adjust to present options, and be visual pleasing enough to understand. At first it was to be used as a training tool used for new employees who had never sold anything before. Helping them reach goals and not miss any curtail information that needed to be provided to the customer. I had approached my district manager, who ran 5 stores at the time, with my idea. He had asked me to test it in my store with my new employees and share the results.
I then went work collecting data. I observed what my employees were struggling with and saw there was no set method or interface used to quote customers. Often, they would stumble with monthly pricing and would always provide "guesstimates" on what the in store price was. Furthermore, I would follow up with customers for their feedback on their overall experience. Most would say they didn't really understand what their monthly plan was or what they paid for in store.
Solution:
With all the data I collected I developed and designed several versions of the calculator. It was tailored for an easy to use interface for sales reps, and would have a good visual design with all the necessary language for a customer to enjoy their experience. It's designed as an interactive one page PDF template in Adobe Acrobat, graphics were made in Adobe Illustrator, it uses simple logic that calculates the cost a customer would expect to pay in store and their monthly total. Customers want to see the bottom line and this tool always include sales tax in its calculation. This PDF also includes aspects for sales reps to help meet their sales/commission goals. It took the guesswork out for the customer and would display totals without the use of much explanation from the sales rep. After several versions I finally found all the right affordances the calculator needed, and I put signifiers that allowed my employees to interact with the interface. I designed it with bold lettering, a minimal color scheme, and with light graphics so that customers would be able to make a purchase with confidence. This application would be the birth of Smart Solutions.
The in store cost would allow sales reps to up sell products easily. For example, if they wanted to sell more accessories they would simply insert a 1, 2, etc. in the proper field and the total would add an accessory bundle that would display the cost accurately. By doing this company standards for accessory sales would be met effortlessly. Moreover, this drastically cut down the time spent providing such quotes. In addition, if the customer had a percentage discount on accessories the rep could easily add the percentage, which was difficult or even missed when calculating by hand.
The monthly total is centered around the newest plans and is easy to update when the plans change. It even had an option to display grandfathered plans that were no longer offered by the wireless carrier. In addition it had the option to include any promotions or discounts that a customer would expect on their monthly bill, and a date atop to give customers a time limit on said promotion. It also had a list of disclaimers on the bottom that provided the customer with all relevant information on their purchase.
The PDF gave customers options. with a few clicks a rep would effortlessly be able to provide multiple quotes with accuracy so there were no surprises at the end of a transaction or the end of the month. It gave reps options as well, freeing up much needed time to pitch additional products or services without pressuring the customer thus increasing their commission and the customers experience.
Once printed the customer's version would be rid of all the calculation interface used by the rep producing a high quality hard copy with nothing to confuse the customer. It was so simple to understand, even if the customer went to a different retailer all of the information would translate and would be easy to complete. The one page document included the sales rep's name and location so that a customer would be able to come back and work with that person, or prevent any commission disputes between other reps. The customers name and info was also on the PDF which allowed reps to save it and use it later as a warm lead.
Calculator Backend
Sales Rep View
Customer Facing
1st Version of Calculator
2nd Version Centered Around Sales
3rd Version Visually Pleasing
*Select images to enlarge
Video: Calculator In Use *Not in use at real time*
Results:
Customer experience increased tremendously with my store receiving many positive reviews. The calculator lead my store to the top of the district in key metrics of the company's sales goals. One metric that it impacted the most was accessory attachment rate. The goal was to sell $100 worth of accessories with each phone purchase this was measured as an overall percentage. The entire district struggled with this metric with the average being 75% attachment. Once I introduced the calculator to my store our average was 110%. Impressed, my district manager asked what we were doing and I explained how the calculator made it simple to attach accessory bundles without having to go over each individual price of every product. He then went to the regional manager and got approval to roll out a test in all 5 of his stores with the calculator. Over the next 3 months every single store either met or exceeded the target of 100% accessory attachment rate. My district became the leading district in the entire company in accessory sales. I also received the Gold Store Award which was awarded by the wireless carrier to stores that had an average net promoter score (a score used to track overall customer service and experience) of 90% in 3 months.
I began to have meetings with other managers in my district on the best and most effect ways to use the calculator. I also took any feedback or ideas for further development. Soon after, my district manager took my calculator to his yearly meeting with all the heads of the company along with all the other district managers. Subsequently, he won district manager of the year. Finally my calculator was then adopted by the entire company which increased customer experience and revenue for the entire company of Ensignal.
Shortly after I moved and went to work for another indirect retailer as a sales rep. I developed a similar calculator that was used in my entire district and once again it increased the overall customer experience, taught new reps about plans and pricing, and increased commission for current sales reps.
